The End of A Futile War
by adeadfreelancer
Summary: Optimus Prime arrives on Earth to see the end of a Decepticon invasion, only to discover a horrifying truth. Verity Carlo seeks freedom alongside her new best friend, as a sadistic Decepticon hunts them down. G. I. Joe discovers that Cobra is working with the Decepticons, which may lead to an interplanetary war if not quickly resolved. Rated M for language and violent themes.
1. The Fall

Space is a cold and empty place. That is what Swoop had been told, five and a half million years before. He had been told that the chances of discovering life away from Cybertron was minimal. That the chances of ever encountering another lifeform in the deep reaches of space were nonexistent. 4.3 million years of war had proved to him that no one knew what they were talking about.

As the ship exploded around him, he cast his gaze upon the green planet below, the void of space pulling the ship's atmosphere into the vast nothingness. It was organic, but it was habitable. It was their only chance of surviving, as long as the ship could hold together for a few more minutes. Swoop then turned his gaze upon the ship that had attacked them, the Decepticon ship that could hold no more than the Dynobots themselves yet had decimated them with only a few shots.

The ship fired once more, its blast ripping through the Dynoship's hull, before the ensuing explosion launched Swoop away from safety, and into the void. The Dynobot looked up in horror as he approached the enemy, before a hand clamped down onto his wrist. Swoop only glanced the form of his commander, Grimlock, before he was thrown backwards towards their own ship. As Swoop's feet connected with the floor and locked in place, he looked back to see Grimlock's fading form, illuminated by the planet's yellow sun and the flaming sword in his hand.

Grimlock had been slaughtering Decepticons since the war began. Before it, he had been killing fascists. Sentinel and Zeta Prime had both met their ends at his hands, though he had help back then. A simple ship would not be enough to kill him. As the ship's automated defenses activated, he raised his sword to deflect the turret blasts, growing closer and closer. Whoever his foe may be, from the Decepticon Justice Division to Megatron, they would soon be meeting their end.

Once the Dynoship's shields reactivated, Swoop turned to the door and hurriedly opened it. He ran for the bridge, hoping the rest of his crew was still alive. He found them all standing before him, with the exception of Snarl, whose left leg had been taken off by a blast.

Swoop was quick to tell them, "Grimlock's gone! I mean, he left! To fight them!"

"We have bigger problems," Slag growled as he faced the ship's communication monitor as it blinked orange at him.

"Press the button to turn it on, dim-spark," Sludge said as he pushed Slag out of the way and activated the monitor.

Of every foe they expected to see, they were met with the worst of the worst. Perhaps worse than even Megatron himself. A single yellow eye surrounded by darkness and enclosed in purple metal stared unblinking at them as it said from no mouth, "Greetings, Dynobots," with not even a trace of emotion in its voice.

"Shockwave," Snarled Snarl. "My old enemy."

"Snarl. Autobot," Shockwave replied. "In approximately 32.02 seconds, your ship will be pulled into the planet's atmosphere before it will burn up. There is a guaranteed rate of survival for all of you, though likely Snarl will be forced offline after suffering extensive injuries. You will crash in a desert of ice, thousands of miles away from civilization, or a means of repairing your ship. You will be stranded, for conceivably forever."

"Or?" Swoop asked with optimism, though he knew deals never worked out well with Decepticons.

"Or nothing," Shockwave told him. "I was simply informing you of your fate."

"Sir!" came another voice on the monitor.

"What is it?" Shockwave asked, turning to face the offscreen Decepticon.

"Their leader! He's on board!" the Decepticon cried, fear filling him.

Shockwave raised his left arm, a gun in place of a hand, before firing once. He then ordered, "Connect a fusion grenade to his spark. Prepare for combat."

"Guess your in the same boat as the rest of us," Sludge grinned.

"Oh, no," Shockwave said, and it felt to all of them that he was smiling. "Everything is going exactly as planned."

There came an explosion from offscreen, followed by screaming and laser fire. Shockwave simply raised his arm and fired, before lowering it and facing his own monitor once more. He suddenly turned with surprise, before Grimlock's flaming sword cut off his right arm, then stabbed him through the chest. Grimlock looked into the monitor, his resilient body covered in scorch marks and a single hole in his left side, but still standing triumphant.

"Don't worry," he said to his unit. "I've got thi," Grimlock's words were cut off as a blast of pink energy ripped through his head, before he fell to the ground.

Shockwave rose up over the Dynobot, then turned his attention to the others. He said simply, "Point seven seconds."

The transmission cut off just as the Dynoship was pulled down into the planet, before quickly catching fire. The Dynobots had little to do but brace themselves for the eventual impact that would tear apart their ship, and their bodies. They would emerge alone, in a horrifying world filled with organic monsters that lurked beneath the ocean, and no energon in sight. Reluctantly, they returned to their ship and activated a barely operational distress beacon, before going to sleep. They would awaken either when their allies came to save them, or their enemies came to kill them. Either way, they would be asleep for many years.

As Shockwave watched the Dynoship burn up in orbit, he turned his attention Grimlock and said, "You are most resilient. I imagine you are a point one percenter, as they are called?"

"Frag me," Grimlock growled, his head half blown off, as he groped towards Shockwave's feet.

"How very interesting," Shockwave admired. "Unfortunately for you, I have an abundance in the Decepticon army to choose from. Perhaps luckily for you, I still need you."

Shockwave then reached down and pulled his disembodied arm up with his elbow, before pressing it into place where it had been severed. Grimlock watched in horror as the melted metal began to fuse back with the severed limb, before Shockwave flexed his fingers. There was a delay, but it would have to do for the time being.

"What kind of glitch are you?" Grimlock asked in disgust.

"A scientist," Shockwave replied before grabbing hold of the back of Grimlock's neck and pulling him forward. The Decepticon brought the fallen Autobot to an air lock before tossing him inside like a bag of scrap metal, leaving him with one last cold statement. "I may have use for you, but it won't be for some time."

Grimlock let out a roar as Shockwave ejected him out into space, the void stealing his scream. The Dynobot would soon find himself meeting the same fate as his allies, but unlike them he was left to burn unprotected. Unlike them, he landed upon desert sand, with no shield to protect him. Grimlock gave one final reach upwards, to where the Decepticon ship had once been, then his eyes went black as his body fell into stasis lock.

History repeats itself ever so frequently. A lone Autobot ship held firm against the might of a Decepticon cruiser, a mad man commanding a group of far too loyal soldiers. The hero of Cybertron, Optimus Prime, barks orders as he sets a course for the planet, hoping to land safely before suffering any losses. Their ship was shot down just as the Dynoship was, crashing down onto the planet's surface. Unlike the Dynobots, they arrive only a few miles away from civilization, outside a rural town in Arizona.

As Optimus, Bumblebee, Jazz, Hot Rod, and Ratchet fell towards the planet, their attacker smiled to himself as he rubbed his claws together. Then he gave the order to follow, and confirm the deaths of their enemies, even if it meant wiping out the entire planet. His men chuckled at this thought. They didn't have a reason not to destroy the petty thing after all, there could always be Autobots hiding deep in its core.

With the absence of Optimus Prime, the two self-proclaimed most important Autobots would fight over the claim to lead. They were each the most law abiding, strict, and cunning Autobots the war had ever seen. One followed the law with such efficiency one could wonder if he had a spark, while the other was so cold that the law had proved a useful tool for him to twist. Their names were Ultra Magnus (Duly Appointed Enforcer of The Tyrest Accord, and Right Hand to Optimus Prime) and Prowl (Left Hand of Cybertron).

Across space, aboard the Decepticon ship The Nemesis, Megatron meets with his own right hand, Thunderwing. He asks the smiling Pretender, "Have you found the planet yet?"

"Oh great and noble Megatron," Thunderwing said as his smile grew across his haunting yellow face. "We have found the most perfect of planets. Not only does it contain the materials to create an abundance of Energon, its practically overflowing with alternative fuel."

"Good," Megatron said as he turned away. "Set a course for this planet. Earth, was it?"

"That's right," Thunderwing said as Megatron began to walk away. "There is just one small thing though, mighty Megatron."

"What is it?" Megatron growled, stopping in place.

"It's an organic planet," Thunderwing said as his smile turned to a grimace. "Filled to the brim with little squishy things. And plants. So many plants."

Megatron let out a sigh then asked, "Has infiltration begun?"

"It began forty years ago," Thunderwing gleefully informed.

As Thunderwing informed Megaton of Earth's usefulness, a lone human crept along the shadows of a large compound filled to the brim with enemy soldiers. The human dressed in black fatigues and a balaclava, while goggles covered his eyes. At his hip was a silenced pistol, while on his back he carried a sword. The human has been called many names, but the name he currently possesses is Snake Eyes.

A group of Cobra Vipers walked past the corner Snake Eyes hid behind, patrolling the grounds. He waited for them to move out of the way then ran forward, his footsteps silent. Snake Eyes then slid beneath a HISS tank, still invisible to the various soldiers and engineers. The ninja looked beyond the area he was in, to a closed off hanger that everyone seemed to be avoiding, though not widely enough for him to worry over a radiation leak. Whatever was in there, he needed to see it.

Snake Eyes crawled out from beneath the tank then rose to his feet before dashing forward, avoiding the line of sight of a passing Techno-Viper. He looked over the hanger, before settling on what he hoped to be an unlocked door, before sprinting to it. As one would expect, it was locked, but this wasn't much of a worry. Snake Eyes quickly drew his handgun and fired, shooting the lock off the door, before holstering the weapon. He then entered into darkness, shutting the door behind him.

As Snake Eyes moved forward, he could see the shapes of various vehicles in the hanger, mostly jets, as well as several tanks and surprisingly two vintage cars, one of which had a strange mounted gun. Snake Eyes looked over the vehicles before his attention was drawn to a massive form, something that Cobra must have spent billions of dollars on developing. Then red light washed over him as the machine opened its eyes, or more accurately, turned them on.

"Well, what have we here?" It snickered as it began to move forward, far too fast and fluid to be a simple robot. "You don't look like one of _our_ humans."

Snake Eyes began to run away, firing over his shoulder, but his bullets simply bounced away harmlessly. Whatever this thing is, he had to report back to Hawk. Snake Eyes was surprised to see two more humanoid machines transform from the shapes of the cars, one having previously been a beat up blue pickup truck, and the other a green SUV. There was little time for Snake Eyes to escape now that these two new machines were attacking, so instead he did what he had been prepared to do since he was a child, albeit with far less honor. He simply clicked a button on his wrist and waited.

The blue robot dived at him, but instead of crushing Snake Eyes, it held him safely as it transformed back into its truck form, allowing him to fall onto the passenger's leather seat. The green robot then jumped in front of them and used its own body as a shield as the red eyed robot fired a purple blast at them, which would have killed Snake Eyes were it not for the intervention of these other two machines. That would have been a mercy.

The blast was powerful enough to rip through the green robots chest and out its back, before washing over the truck. Even though the first robot had taken most of the damage, the leftover was still enough to shatter the glass and burn away Snake Eye's clothing, frying his skin. Had it been any other human, they would have blacked out from the pain, but Snake Eyes was never going to give in during the heat of battle.

The truck spun around without any interference from the ground as steam rose from its scorched metal, while its mounted gun began to fire upon the hanger doors, its ammunition hot and acidic enough to melt through the steel like it was nothing. Snake Eyes looked over his shoulder as the truck began to drive forward, far faster than any normal truck, while the robot first attempted to crawl through the small hole, before ripping open the doors. The robot then transformed into a red, white, and black jet which began to fly after them before crashing into a catwalk, taking several engineers with it as it fell to the ground below.

"Ha, wouldja look at that!" an almost Scottish voice filled Snake Eyes' ears. "Name's Kup. That little fella back there is Recoil. The psychopath that killed Hoist is one mean sun of a gun called Starscream. What's your name?"

"…" said Snake Eyes.

"Right. Well, you don't seem like one of those snake guys back there," Kup said. "You also seem hurt bad. You got a place I can drop you off?"

Snake Eyes thought for a second before he began to tap on the dash, hoping the transformer knew what Morse code is, as well as coordinates.

"I got ya, kid," Kup said as he ran over a squad of Vipers. "It's gonna be a bumpy ride."

Snake Eyes took one last look over his shoulder, to see a squad of Vipers chasing them while HISS yanks began to grow close. Then he closed his eyes, and accepted sleep's cool embrace. Kup would deliver him from the Cobra compound safely, and out onto the desert sands before continuing forward. Kup was a bot of his word and would make sure Snake Eyes got back to his friends in one piece. Well, alive anyway. He was fairly confident that the skin the human lost counted as separate pieces. The base would be bombed minutes later, most of its inhabitants dying in the blast. Most.

Verity Carlo walked down a sand covered street in Amarillo, Texas, kicking someone's discarded soda can. As she drew close to the trailer park she called home, she decided for the sixty-eighth time in a row to extend her walk by another few minutes. Maybe an hour or two. So, she kept walking forward, until she arrived at the edge of town, with nothing more than empty desert waiting for him. Then, she decided to keep walking, at least for a little while.

Verity's greasy black hair fell over her shoulders, having lost most of the curls it usually had. Her eyes were a deep brown, and were shaded by a red baseball cap. Her skin was light brown and mostly covered despite the intense heat, though as night fell it was replaced by a deep cold. She dressed in a red tank top over a black long sleeve shirt and red basketball shorts over dark jeans, along with a pair of cheap sneakers that were falling apart. She was only fifteen years old yet held the cold gaze of someone who had grown numb to the cruel world around them.

It would be an entire hour before Verity came to a stop, far out into the desert, with only the occasional bird for company. She found herself a large rock to sit on, before laying back to look up at the full moon overhead. Then Verity began to cry, as she had done many nights before, looking up at the same moon from other parts of the desert. This time however, she wasn't alone.

The ground began to shake beneath Verity, causing her to stop crying as she panicked at the thought of an earthquake, before realizing she didn't have to worry about anything falling on her. Then the rock she was sitting on was pushed away, nearly knocking her off, as something impossible rose from beneath the sand. A hulking metal frame rose up until it towered over her, then leaned down to look at her with its glowing red eyes.

Verity stared back, finding herself saying, "Well. I'm about to be killed by a giant robot dinosaur. I hate my stupid life."

"Killed?" the dinosaur asked in surprise, and what almost seemed fear to Verity.

"Are you…?" she began to ask, before realizing she didn't even know what to ask it. She decided on, "What the hell are you?"

"Me… Grimlock," the behemoth said after a moment, having found difficulty in recalling its own name.

"Riiiight," Verity said as she rose to her feet. "You're not going to eat me, are you?"

"Eat me?" Grimlock asked as he cocked his head.

"Guess not," she said with a small laugh. "Well. I found a giant talking robot. That's also a dinosaur. God, what the hell just happened?" she asked herself, as Grimlock looked around the desert with the curiosity of a small child. "So uh… do you have any friends or anything?" she asked, still not entirely sure what was happening.

"Friends…" Grimlock sadly whispered, before sitting down. "Grimlock… lost friends…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, buddy," Verity said as she carefully extended her hand before touching it to Grimlock's snout.

"Friend?" he asked as he leaned into her touch."

"Sure thing, Grim," she said with another small laugh. "Name's Verity."

"Verity…" he said in thought, though nothing came of it.

"Listen, buddy, I need to be getting home," she mournfully told him. "Will you be alright out here, all alone?"

"Alone?" Grimlock asked with what sounded like fright before he looked around at the foreign landscape.

"Shit, okay," Verity muttered as she thought to herself. "Alright, I have a plan. How good are you at hiding?"

"Good," Grimlock purred, cocking his head at her.

"Good. Good. I think we can make this work…" she said as she thought of how she would explain the Dinobot to anyone who saw him. "I'll just say you're a… school project or something. As long as they don't see you moving around or anything. That should be fine. This plan is going to fail."

"Fail?" he asked, cocking his head in the opposite direction.

"I don't suppose there's anyway you can make yourself smaller?" she asked him, hoping he could fit under a tarp. Without replying Grimlock began to transform, reverting to his standard form, which was several feet smaller in both height and width. "Well," Verity said in surprise. "This raises even more questions, honestly. Alright big guy, let's go," she said as she turned and began to walk away.

Grimlock followed in silence, occasionally twitching as sand rubbed against his brain module. Despite his large size, Verity had to hand it to him. The transformer was surprisingly good at moving silently, even in his current state. By the time they reached Amarillo, there was no one left on the streets, and most houses had turned out their lights. Verity took opportunity of this and hurriedly moved Grimlock past various homes, hoping no one would look out their window.

She eventually managed to get Grimlock behind her trailer before throwing the largest rain tarp she could find over him, which still didn't entirely cover him. Verity let out a sigh and said, "Just don't move until I get you, okay?"

Grimlock said nothing but instead a voice called out, "Is that you, Verity?"

"Yes mami," Verity called back as she turned around.

"What are you doing out so late!?" her mother demanded, poking her head out one of the trailer's windows.

"Nothing, I was just," Verity began before being cut off.

"I don't even care! Get your ass in here and go to bed!" her mother ordered. "And consider yourself grounded, too!"

"Yes ma'am," Verity sighed before she looked over her shoulder and said, "Good night, Grim."

Still, he said nothing.

"It's a good thing we got these alt modes before coming," Jazz said as he drove across the desert road. "Man, if I still had those old wheels…"

"We would have made do," Optimus sternly said. "Ratchet, are we being followed?"

"Nothing on the radar," Ratchet replied. "Chances are they'll be looking for bodies though."

"Then we keep moving," Optimus said.

"Where are we even going?" Bumblebee asked, holding back to match Optimus' speed.

"First we need to make contact with the reconnaissance team, and find out what they know," Optimus explained. "Then we formulate a plan."

"Sounds good, boss," Bumblebee chimed before driving forward.

Jazz then asked, "How bad do you think it is, Prime?"

"The planet's still here," Optimus sighed. "They can't be too far along, considering its not on fire, or made of metal."

"Any idea where the others are then?" Jazz asked, not expecting a real answer.

"There's an Autobot signal coming from a couple hundred miles ahead," Ratchet said. "I'm guessing that's our men."

"Yeah," Jazz chuckled. "Not like anyone else would be here, I guess."


	2. The Rise of Cobra

"Where is he? Let me see him!" Scarlet shouted, pushing past Doc before throwing open the door to the med bay.

The man called Snake Eyes laid in a hospital bed, an IV pressed into his wrist to keep him hydrated and sedated. His tattered clothing had been removed, and replaced with bandages across his entire body, many of which were stained red or brown. The parts of his body that did not bleed instead fell away, his burned skin coating the cloth that held him together. He looked up at Scarlet with unblinking brown eyes but did not speak.

"Oh god, Snake, what happened to you?" Scarlet asked, pressing her head to his chest. "Snake? Can you hear me?" she then turned back to Doc and asked, "What's wrong? Why isn't he talking?"

"I don't know," he replied. "His vocal cords and lungs are fine. Ears too, though he probably has tinnitus now. Other than that… it seems like he's just not talking."

"Who did this to you, Snake?" she asked, once more pressing her head to his chest. "Just tell me, and I'll kill them. I promise you."

Snake Eyes slowly moved his right arm onto Scarlet's back, but still said nothing. Doc cleared his throat then said, "There was something else."

"What is it?" Scarlet growled, rising up to glare at him.

"He arrived in a car," Doc nervously said as he pulled on his collar. "Mainframe was checking it out and wanted me to tell you. something's weird about it."

"Whatever," Scarlet said as she stood up. "I'll be back soon, Snake.

A few minutes after Scarlet left, Snake Eyes swung his feet off the bed and stood up, pulling his IV out in the process. "What are you doing? You need rest!" Doc yelled, but Snake Eyes ignored him.

Instead he reached forward and took a pen from Doc's coat before stepping past him. snake Eyes took his own patient chart from the front of his bed and flipped it over, before quickly writing a message on the back. Then he walked to the other side of the bed, stabbed the paper into his pillow with the pen, then turned around and began to walk away.

"Get back here!" Doc yelled after him before sighing and saying, "Why does no one ever listen to their doctor?"

Doc looked back to the message and raised an eyebrow at what it said. "Wnt out 4 KRN, BB soon ||"

Scarlet stepped up alongside Mainframe, who furiously ran a scanner alongside a stationary Kup. After several moments Scarlet asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Scanning," he replied.

"No shit," she replied back. "Why?"

"Something's not right about this car," he said.

"And just what does that mean?" she asked.

"Well, Snake Eyes was unconscious when he arrived."

"Oh," Scarlet said.

"Yeah," Mainframe chuckled. "Also, we're about a thousand and a half miles away from that base. And this car got here in less than a day. That isn't possible."

"You think it's some sort of Cobra tech?" she asked.

"Probably. No telling what kind of experiments they had going on there, since Snake had the place bombed," he said. "Speaking of the devil, how's he doing?"

"He's alive," Scarlet sighed. "It was horrible, seeing him like that. And he wouldn't say anything… but I think he'll be alright," The sound of an airplane filled their ears, and they turned to see an old troop transport flying away from their base. Scarlet turned back to Mainframe and asked, "Was anyone scheduled to be leaving?"

"I don't think so," he nervously said.

Scarlet then clenched her fists and growled out, "I'm going to fucking kill him," before the car suddenly began to drive away from them. She then screamed out, "I AM GOING TO KILL HIM!"

Grimlock awakened from his slumber to yelling, which was not unusual for him. Though he didn't know why, it felt almost normal, though it also distressed him. At first he simply rested beneath the tarp that shielded him from prying eyes, hoping the yelling would stop. Instead it only grew worse. He didn't understand most of the words that were said, and even then not everything made it into his ears.

"Stupid dyke!" he heard a damaged human voice yell.

"Don't call ?he a dyke!" a higher pitched though still damaged human voice retorted.

"That's what ?he fucking is, Gloria!" the lower pitch said.

It occurred to Grimlock the higher pitch was familiar to him, but he didn't know quite where. The higher pitch's voice broke as it said, "It's just a phase! No ? of mine is a ? damned les?-!"

"Where do you think you're going, bitch!?" the rougher voice then growled before an undamaged high-pitched voice cried out in pain.

Grimlock was onto his feet before he realized why, his fist tearing through the weak metal shell as the three organics below him began to register. There was Verity, Mother, and Threat. They all looked up at Grimlock in terror, but he didn't process them. As his sight held onto Threat, he began to see his possible solutions. Crush it. Break it. Eat it. Rip it APART DEVOUR IT CONSUME IT DESTROYDESTROYDESTROYDESTROY!

"GRIM!" Verity's voice cut through the air, snapping Grimlock out of his trance. "Put him down, please!"

He looked to the fragile organic in his hand, its red body fluids now staining its mouth, before he dropped it to the ground below. He then instinctively changed modes, his form becoming even more terrifying to the humans, as Verity hurried out the door. Grimlock stepped forward, scared she was leaving him, but instead she ran to him.

"It's okay," Verity said as she placed her hand to his snout. "I'm okay."

"Verity…" Grimlock softly said, looking to the red mark on her cheek. "Hurt?" he asked, rising up to glare back down into the trailer.

"No, Grimlock," she said. "I'm okay. Let's… let's go."

"Go," he agreed, lowering himself so Verity could climb onto his back.

"Well, this is new," she quipped before pulling herself up. "Let's go, buddy."

"Go," Grimlock said once more, before he began to carry Verity away from the only life she had ever known, and into a whole new world.

Gloria Carlo-Rodriquez stood outside the ruined remains of her home, holding back tears. She had no money for repairs, or the hospital bill Glen would get, and her delinquent daughter had run off with the monster that attacked them. Evil, that's what Verity had called it. Her daughter had first fallen into the bed of the homosexual, and now the devil.

"Excuse me, hu, er-um," a voice said from behind her.

Gloria turned to see a rather awkward looking black man dressed in a white and black shirt and strange looking black pants standing before her, with a weird smile on his face. "What do you want?" she asked, sniffling.

"What happened here?" he asked, his smile locked in place. She wondered if there was something wrong with him.

"We were attacked by some kind of… metal dinosaur," she said, realizing just how ridiculous it sounded.

"A metal dino?" he asked in shock, his smile not faltering.

"That's what it was," Glorida replied as she turned back to look at the trailer. The man had not stepped away, yet when she looked back, he was gone. There were no footprints where he had stood either.

Jazz drove away from the entrance to the trailer park, switching to radio to talk to Optimus. "Yo, Prime, we've got some… well, some mixed news," he said.

"What is it, Jazz?" Optimus asked as he searched the town, his own holo-avatar standing inside a café to watch the humans' news program, which detailed increasing tensions between "America" and "Nanzhao".

"I found signs of an Autobot alright," he replied. "Not exactly who we're lookin for though."

"What?" Prime asked in surprise. "Who is it?"

Jazz braced himself then nervously offered, "Grimlock?"

Optimus said nothing, but his holo-avatar disappeared as he thought. After several moments of silence he finally said, "Find Grimlock. Make sure he can't hurt anyone."

"Hurt anyone?" Jazz asked. "He's one of us, ain't he?"

"He is," Prime agreed. "But he's also dangerous, especially to organics. Find him, Jazz. And if you have to, make sure he can never hurt anyone again."

"Understood, sir," Jazz grimly complied.

"Ratchet," Optimus then requested.

"I'm listening, Optimus," the medic sighed.

"They're not here. We need somewhere else to look," Prime stated.

"I'm expanding the radar. This is hard, without any equipment," he complained. A moment later he said, "Well, that's odd."

"What is it?" Optimus asked.

"That signal from earlier, it's gone. But we've got another one, some way's away," Ratchet said. "There's something else… no…"

"What is it, Ratchet?" Prime demanded.

"He's found us, sir," Ratchet gasped. "Scorponok is here."

It was only three minutes before Optimus and his Autobots, aside from Jazz, arrived at the outskirts of Amarillo together. However, three minutes can mean so much when it comes to torture. In those three minutes Scorponok had torn Deftwing's wings from his back and ripped the servos from his arms. He had taken plucked out Deftwing's eyes carefully, making rue the Autobot could watch as his head was crushed by Scorponok's claws, pressing just tight enough against his brain module to send him into fits of pain but not kill him. the Decepticon had torn Deftwing's legs off and tossed them to the ground, before reaching inside of his chassis and pulled out his backstrut before refitting it inside Deftwing's fuel pump while making sure not to cause additional damage, leaving it just functional enough to keep him alive.

"I'm going to be sick," Bumblebee gagged as the group looked at the horrifying sight, to Scorponok holding the limp Autobot by his neck while two other Decepticons stood behind him.

"Bee?" Deftwing asked, looking around frantically as his eyes swung around wildly, colliding with his chassis multiple times. "Where are you!? I can't see you! Help me!"

"I've been waiting for you, Optimus," Scorponok said as he clenched his claws, and cut Deftwing's head from his body.

"NO!" Optimus cried, driving forward while transforming in the same moment. His move succeeded in allowing him to tackle Scorponok before he growled out, "You'll pay for this."

"Possibly," Scorponok said as Bumblebee and Hot Rod began to attack his followers, while Ratchet reclaimed Deftwing's severed head.

Optimus Prime was a warrior. He hadn't been forged by Primus to be one, but war had made sure of it. Four million wars of death and anguish had made him fearsome and powerful. He channeled the anger that he had fostered over those long years as he began to beat Scorponok to death. Fist after fist. Broken glass and dented metal. Spilled energon. He would not be stopped.

Bumblebee and Hot Rod were warriors as well, but even they knew when to stop. "Optimus," Hot Rod nervously said. "You've won."

"No," Optimus growled as he looked back to Hot Rod. "If I don't stop now, he'll," Optimus stopped speaking as he looked back to Scorponok's broken body, too injured to even move. "If I don't stop, I'll end up just like him…" Optimus grimly said.

Cobra was a vast organization, with millions of members. In fact, it was so large, that one of its Commanders had once said "If you ever wonder whether or not you're a member, just ask yourself, do you know who you really work for? If the answer is yes, you work for us." With so many members, only a few would ever be honored to see the Commander in person. Aside from their own personal guard, there had only ever been five people who are still alive to see the Commander, and her predecessor, in person.

One of those people, whose name had been murdered just as effectively as his past, rode up the elevator to Cobra Commander's office alone, aside from the two Crimson Guards that stood behind him. his codename was Overkill, which he had always admired for being a bit too ironic. After all, he was a scientist. Even if his enemies always did end up mutilated beyond recognition, it was technically the soldiers who were responsible.

Overkill dressed not too dissimilarly from the average Cobra trooper, though his own uniform was instead a protective suit for his experiments rather than fatigues. Most of his face was covered by a red scarf instead of a mask like the soldiers, though he did where one of their helmets. It always helped to be prepared. His brown eyes stared out from beneath the blue helmet, cold but humorous, while the small amount of skin visible was a sickly white.

Once the elevator came to a stop a voice ordered, "Identify yourself."

"Overkill," he replied. "Doctor, Overkill."

After a moment's silence the voice said, "You may enter," and the elevator door slid open.

Overkill stepped into the room as the door closed behind him, and the elevator returned to the bottom of the shaft. Twelve Crimson Guardsmen stood around the room; their eyes locked on him from behind their helmets while they held their assault rifles tight to their chests. Any exits out of the room were hidden by black curtains bearing the Cobra insignia that covered the walls. Dead ahead, sitting atop an elevated throne with a backrest in the shape of a snarling Cobra was the Commander herself.

She looked to him with two sharp cold blue eyes hidden behind her red hooded mask. She dressed in what many would assume to be a navy officer's uniform. The only symbol upon it however was the red Cobra over her left breast. Visibly strapped to the Commander's left side was a silver revolver that glistened beneath the lights shining down upon her.

"What do you want, Overkill?" she asked, her voice carrying authority and apathy.

"We've had a… development, with the Cybertronians, Commander," he informed, nervousness creeping up his spine as he looked up at her.

"And?" she asked, the word cutting through him.

"Rattlers SS, TC, and SW are fine, along with H.I.S.S D.B," he said.

"I noticed two units were missing," the Commander said.

"Yes ma'am," Overkill nervously replied. "SS killed one of the inactive units, while the second escaped. It appears as though they weren't as inactive as we first thought."

"No matter," she said. "Proceed with Operation: Heaven Sent."

"Yes, Commander," Overkill said with a small bow, before turning away.

"And Overkill?" she asked, her words freezing him in place.

"Yes, Commander?" he asked in fear.

"If you lose anymore of our equipment," she stated. "You will be punished. Severely."

The sound of chaos flowed through Soundwave's head, but this was not unusual. There was never ending chaos on every world, even those that held no life. Earth was such an interesting planet though, for the chaos was overwhelming. Billions of humans fighting each other, killing each other, procreating with each other, socializing with each other, building together, laughing together, so much noise. That was just the humans. Billions of birds did the same, their own voices louder than that of the humans. The never-ending howl of wolves and barking of dogs. Cats mewing for food. Lions roaring as they pounced on prey. The screech of insects. It was never ending. Never quieting. The organics breathing, creaking, snapping. The fluids rushing throughout their puny bodies with such pressure that they squirt out of the first opening they find.

Soundwave's attention was pulled back to his surroundings as a small elephant brushed against his leg, wrapping its trunk around him. "What are you doing, earthling?" he asked, his voice resonating with several different frequencies.

The elephant then let out a sound which most humans would agree wasn't language, but Soundwave took to mean, "Playing."

"Fair enough," he replied before looking over the endless plains of grass. He spoke not with words, but thoughts, "Return, Ravage, Buzzsaw, Laserbeak, Ratbat."

The four Decepticons that returned to him were much different than the others, be they Seeker or Infiltrator. Ravage bore a form similar to a mountain lion with a black metal body and grey limbs. Three of the others were close to birds, yet obviously mechanical. Buzzsaw's body was mostly yellow and white, with a black head and grey beak. Laserbeak held a mostly black body with red wings and a yellow beak. Ratbat was unique in that his body was shaped more like an Earth bat than an avian, with different shades of purple covering him, while his eyes glowed yellow.

"This place has an abundance of Energon," Ratbat said as he landed upon Soundwave's shoulder, the other mini-cassettes circling overhead while Ravage sat at Soundwave's feet.

"I thought so," Soundwave agreed. "However, the area is occupied."

"The organics?" Ratbat asked with a laugh. "Please. We can take care of them with ease."

"We wait until Megatron arrives," Soundwave said.

"And how long will that be?" Ravage asked.

"Soon," Soundwave said.

"Squawk!" screeched Laserbeak. "We'll have more Energon than we can eat!"

"Squawk!" screeched Buzzsaw. "You drink Energon, not eat it! Moron! Squawk!"

Soundwave looked past his now arguing cassettes, to the sky and beyond. Megatron would soon be here, and with him, the end of this world. Or its beginning, he supposed. It was the same fate as countless other worlds. Yet for some reason, Soundwave didn't want that. He had never enjoyed war, but now more than ever, he simply wanted it to end.


End file.
